


Pancakes and Frogs and Everything Nice

by eccentric_kittens



Category: Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (TV 2016)
Genre: Cute, Dirk Gently Being Dirk Gently, Dirk Gently Needs a Hug, Fluff, M/M, honestly everything they do is cute, todd brotzman doesnt know how to relationship and neither does dirk
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-11
Updated: 2018-04-11
Packaged: 2019-04-21 16:16:56
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 837
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14288700
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eccentric_kittens/pseuds/eccentric_kittens
Summary: Oneshots in which Todd and Dirk don't know how to say they like each other but they try anyway :punless someone gives me more prompts, this is complete, but I'll leave it on 2/? chapters just in case!comments welcomed <3





	1. Chapter 1

Living together - as friends, of course, _strictly_ friends, and they were both 'fine' with that, of course, just _fine_ \- was getting very...sugary. Todd was in the kitchen, making pancakes - Dirk’s favourite. Or, they would be when he scooped a ridiculous amount of ice cream on them. Said certain sweet-toothed detective poked his head around the corner, smiling innocently.

“Um, Todd?”

“No, Dirk, they’re not done yet. And if you come in here sniffing around one more time -”

“Alright, alright,” Dirk said, admitting defeat. He shot a daring glance at Todd, before stealing a finger-scoop of ice cream before sprinting away.

“Dirk!” Todd yelled, scandalised. “I might take extra long now, just because of that,” he called, and Dirk came back immediately, head hung, but with his finger till in his mouth.

He sucked and pulled it out with a pop. “Come on, Todd. I’m starving.”

“Tough. You can’t rush perfection, y’know?” Todd got ready to flip the near-done pancake, because he knew Dirk got excited whenever that happened.

Dirk began his retreat to the living room. “Fine, fine, I’ll stop rushing you.”

Todd’s arm jolted and the pancake stuck to the ceiling. Hearing the slap sound, Dirk bounced back, plate in hand. Todd ignored the ceiling-cake.

“Dirk, did...did you just call me perfection?”

“I got it! I got it!” Dirk shouted, far too preoccupied with getting his plate directly under the rapidly unsticking pancake.

Todd sighed, shaking his head with a smile. Idiot. He got the ice cream ready.

“What were you saying, Todd?” Dirk asked, watching him scoop approvingly.

“Hm? Oh. Uh, nevermind. Just go eat your pancake, Dirk.”


	2. Chapter 2

“And a glass for your partner, yes?” the waiter asked, and Todd just about choked on his wine.

“He’s not my - I mean - we’re -”

“No wine for me, thanks,” Dirk said, sitting down. He paused til the waiter left and leaned across the table to whisper confidentially to Todd, “You know the soap here is in the shape of cute little frogs, they’re  _so_  adorable!”

Todd smiled. “So I take it you’ll be wanting -”

“Oh my, they have milkshakes here, Todd! How unusual, this is a high-brow place, proper posh. Can I have one?” Dirk begged, slamming the menu down.

Todd had been encouraging him (read: forcing him) to cut down on his sugar intake lately. Dirk didn’t need to be any more hyper than he already was, and Farah was always complaining about how grumpy Dirk got on night shifts, when the sugar wore off and the case was going nowhere. He sighed, knowing he’d regret it later; it was his turn to be out with Dirk to chase a new lead. Eating out somewhere like this was something they all did on the regular. Nothing unusual about that. Nothing that would make that waiter think they were together. 

“Fine, but none of that triple fudge, extra-caramel stuff, okay? You’ll sugar crash before we even leave if you have that much artificial sugar.”

Dirk’s feet tapped excitedly under the table at the prospect. Todd became acutely aware of how close they were sitting on the table for two by the window with a little candle between them, when Dirk’s shoe brushed against his. And stayed there. Todd took a sip of wine.

\---

“I promise, that’s not what the waiter meant, okay?” Todd reassured him, already fumbling to get the keys out of his back pocket. Damn waiter. 

Dirk shrugged silently. It wasn’t like him to not talk back. Not to have more to say. Todd felt bad for not speaking up - they’d overheard the waiters talking about the table with a ‘loud, pasty brit’, and it had kind of killed Dirk’s mood.

“Todd, do  _you_  think I’m loud and pasty?”

“Of course not. Well. You are loud, but not in a bad way. And I’m pretty sure pasty just means pale. Mostly. Don’t take it to heart, okay?”

Dirk shrugged again. “I can’t tell, you know.”

“Can’t tell what?”

“Whether I...look good. I was in an institution half my life and on the run for the rest, I - I never had anyone tell me how I...look. I know the basics of societal expectations - thin is good. Tall is good. Beyond that I’m afraid I don’t really know how I look.”

Todd didn’t know what to say. He wanted to reassure him, but how? Words were just words most of the time to him. ‘You look great’ would mean nothing if it wasn’t personal to Dirk, that much he had learned.

“Dirk, you have nothing to worry about, okay? You look…” Todd hesitated, and finally smiled when an idea came to him, putting his hand on Dirk’s shoulder. “Like a frog."

Dirk frowned, watching Todd unlock and get into the car. Then he remembered telling Todd about the fancy soap from the restaurant, and he smiled.

“Oh...Aw, Todd!”

Already in with the door closed, Todd pretended not to hear, and Dirk, when he slid into the passenger seat, pretended not to understand. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> any more suggestions for cute interactions let me know!


End file.
